Worked as a stage hand with Lincoln Repertory

Stage debut in a school production of "The Bluebird"

Made TV debut in "Mourtzanos"

Professional stage debut in the London production, "Infanticide in the House of Fred Ginger"

Film acting debut, "The Wild and the Willing"; directed and produced by Ralph Thomas

Won the Variety Club Award as Most Promising Newcomer for his stage performance in "The Dwarfs"; first collaboration with playwright Harold Pinter

Portrayed Richard Rich in the film version of "A Man for All Seasons"

Played the title role of a 19th-century Scottish highwayman in John Huston's uninspired "Sinful Davey"

Portrayed the inarticulate Timothy Evans in "10 Rillington Place"

Performed in Harold Pinter's London stage revival of "The Caretaker"

Essayed the role of Ben in Pinter's London revival of "The Dumb Waiter"

Portrayed Tristran Tzara in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Tom Stoppard's "Travesties"

Shot to fame as Quentin Crisp in the TV play, "The Naked Civil Servant"

First non-British film, the Italian-made "La Linea del Fiume/Stream Line"

Offered a brilliant turn as Roman emperor Caligula in the BBC adaptation of "I, Claudius"

First American TV-movie, "Spectre" (NBC)

First American feature, voiced Aragorn in Ralph Bakshi's animated adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkein's "The Lord of the Rings"

Earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his role as a drugged-out hippie in Alan Parker's "Midnight Express"

Essayed the role of Kane, the memorable first victim of the title creature in Ridley Scott's "Alien"

Portrayed the title character in David Lynch's adaption of the Joseph Merrick biography "The Elephant Man"; garnered a Best Actor Academy Award nomination

Acted in Michael Cimino's colossal bomb, "Heaven's Gate" as the lost, embittered alcoholic Billy Irvine

Played Jesus in Mel Brooks' "History of the World, Part I"

Starred as the Fool opposite Laurence Olivier's King in BBC' "King Lear"

Appeared in Sam Peckinpah's critically panned but hugely successful final film, "The Osterman Weekend"

Played the stubbornly nonconformist Winston Smith in Michael Radford's adaptation of the novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four"

Acted the part of the brooding assassin in Stephen Frears' sinister "The Hit"

Re-teamed with director Mel Brooks for the disappointing "Star Wars" spoof, "Spaceballs"

Provided the voice of the artist for the documentary, "Vincent - The Life and Death of Vincent Van Gogh"

Played the title role of the narrator in the NBC children's fantasy series, "The Storyteller"

Offered an excellent turn as Dr. Stephen Ward, a sexual provocateur in Michael Caton-Jones' directorial debut, "Scandal"

Portrayed the Storyteller on NBC variety anthology summer series, "The Jim Henson Hour"

Appeared as himself in the documentary feature, "Resident Alien: Quentin Crisp in New York"

Re-teamed with Caton-Jones for "Rob Roy"

Cast in the John Boorman directed "Two Nudes Bathing" segment of Showtime's "Picture Windows"

Starred with Helen Mirren in an award-winning West End production of Turgenev's "A Month in the Country"

Earned acclaim for his performance in Richard Kwietniowski's feature directorial debut, "Love and Death on Long Island"

Narrated The Discovery Channel's "True Story of the Elephant Man"

Starred opposite Christian Bale in Jeremy Thomas' directorial debut, "All the Little Animals"

Played a priest in Janusz Kiminski's feature directorial debut, "Lost Souls"

Acted in a film version of "Krapp's Last Tape"

Played Mr. Ollivander, the wand-maker, in the first Harry Potter film "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"

Re-teamed with director Richard Kwietniowski for "Owning Mahowny"

Cast as Professor Bruttenholm in the feature adaption of the popular comic book series, "Hellboy"

Reprised role of Mr. Ollivander for "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban"

Starred opposite Kate Hudson in the supernatural thriller, "Skeleton Key"

Cast as the villainous Bishop Lilliman in the Wachowski brothers' "V for Vendetta"

Appeared in Steven Spielberg's "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" as Harold Oxley